Closing Bell: Market snaps 2-day winning streak; Sensex down over 350 points, Nifty50 settles below 17,000

Closing Bell: The Indian markets on Monday snapped two days gaining streak to end negative ahead of the US Fed meeting this week. The BSE Sensex tumbled more than 350 points and NSE Nifty50 settled below the key psychological level of 17,000, largely dragged by Metal and IT stocks.

The US Fed decision is scheduled for Wednesday, March 22. With the US banking system in turmoil, there was a little hope among market participants that the Fed may pause rate hikes, but that view has now changed to a 25-basis point hike, which will continue to weigh on equity sentiment, according to Deven Mehata, research analyst, Choice Broking.

At the market close, the BSE Sensex settled at 57,628.95, down 360.95 points or 0.62 per cent, while Nifty50 declined by 111.65 points or 0.65 per cent to conclude at 16,988.40 today.

The broader markets – Nifty Mid and Smallcap – underperformed the frontline indices to end around 1 per cent each today. While the 12-stock banking index – Nifty Bank was down by 236.15 per cent or 0.6 per cent to the 39,361.95 level. 

Also Read: Top Gainers & Losers: These two FMCG giants buck negative trend, Hindalco slumps 2%

Among sectors Nifty Media, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumption ended in green while Nifty Metal, IT, PSU Bank and Auto ended on the lower side. In Nifty stocks, HUL, BPCL and ITC were the top gainers while Adani Enterprise, Bajaj Finance and Hindalco were the prime laggards.

INDIA VIX was up by 8.33 percent intraday and settled at 16.00.

Volume profile indicates Nifty has strong support around the 16,750-16,850 zone, the analyst at Choice Broking said, adding that Bank Nifty has support at 38,700-38,900 while resistance is placed at 39900-40050 range.

“With respect to OI data, on the call side, the highest OI was observed at 17,100 followed by 17,200 strike prices while on the put side, the highest OI is at 16,800 strike price,” Mehata said in his quote.

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